The writer alleged that he had become “distant” from his family and stopped attending church after meeting the man online.

The message read: "He turned to his computer and the internet for entertainment. He loved to play video games and may have even been a bit addicted to them (I can relate).

“He ended up meeting someone who he thought wanted to be his friend. This person wasn't another 14-year-old boy, but a man. Not having very many friends, if any, Breck immediately attached to this relationship…

“Breck told his father that he was going to his friend's house for a sleepover a couple of streets away. This wasn't a huge concern for his parents.

"He ended up taking a train down to Essex, about two hours away to meet [a] man he had been talking to over the internet."

Essex Police said they were aware of the Facebook message but refused to comment on the circumstances around the murder.

One internet user claimed that Breck and the man he went to see had been members of a community on TeamSpeak, an online telephone system similar to Skype that is popular with gamers.

Breck’s mother, Lorin LaFave, 47, who is originally from Michigan in the United States, said in an internet post that her son was “too confident and independent” to heed her warnings about meeting people online.

“Breck was a clever, good and helpful boy. Like most teenagers, socialising, computers and games were what he enjoyed,” she said.

Surrey Police said it had referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over a report it received from a member of the schoolboy's family in December last year relating to online activity.

The teenager’s father, Barry Bednar, 49, an oil futures trader from Houston, Texas, described his son as a “happy, gentle and smart” boy who had only just returned from a school trip.

He said: "He had been to Spain for ten days and he was excited to see us and be home again."

Christopher Curtis, Breck’s headmaster at St Bede's Christian comprehensive school in Redhill, Surrey, said he was a “bright and hard working” student who was a “real pleasure to teach”.

He added: “We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his friends and with all affected."

The teenager’s schoolfriends left a series of online tributes to the “lovely innocent boy”.

One wrote: "It is scary to know that someone we knew, or just walked past in the corridors is gone."

:: Lewis Daynes, 18, a computer engineer, appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with murder and was remanded in custody.